Taxable turnover
On principle, all goods and services provided by an entrepreneur in Germany are subject to value-added tax, unless they are tax-free. Taxable are:
- supplies of goods and services,
- import of goods (import turnover tax),
- intra-Community acquisition (i.e. supplies of goods from another member state of the European Union) and
Value-added tax law contains an extensive catalogue of goods and services which are exempt from value-added tax. These include e.g.:
- intra-Community deliveries,
- export deliveries,
- services provided by certain professional groups (e.g. doctors),
- financial services (e.g. granting loans),
- insurance services,
- buying and selling real estate,
- letting property in the long-term,
In most cases, an entrepreneur providing goods or services which are value-added tax-free is not allowed to deduct input tax.